I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

au94

beautiful color, Emberglow was the name I think. I had a blue 66 conv, 289 V-8 in high school. Not a GT though. Dad just could not imagine why I want through a set of rear tires in 2 months.

kyfdx

Well... you must be right on the color..

Because his plates were 66 EMBER ....

I wondered if that anything to do with the color... now I know!!

thanks,
kyfdx

mazda6iguy

Also a GMC version of the El Camino called the Sprint

fintail

This morning I saw a Mercury Marauder (new style) and a VW Phaeton

There was a car chase locally yesterday with an unusual car: Subaru SVX

au94

Probably would have had a better chance of getting away in a WRX :P

Maybe not obscure, but I saw a Dodge Magnum in full police trim on Sunday.

stickguy

A nice looking BMWQ 318Ti (yes, I am one of the few people that actually likes these). Odd thing was, it was parked next to a white MGB bumper car. Fair shape, looked to have some rusty spots that had been patched, but a decent looking driver.

andys120

Oddly, I've seen a couple of 318Tis lately myself, I like 'em too.

Today I saw an E34 M5 at the local BMW reseller. MMMMM, me likey.

kyfdx

What kind of price on that M5?

I saw a great looking '97 318Ti for sale...Sport package, stick, etc.. Couldn't convince my wife that we needed to buy it for my son to drive... .................. something about him only being 11-years-old... :surprise:

bhill2

That may have actually been a 1958 Ranchero donor. For some reason, the 1958 Ranchero used the '57 back end. I never knew why, because the '58 wagons had the updated rear.

stickguy

I was surprised at how small it looked. It looked tiny parked next to my tC. Much lower.

kyfdx

The increase in size.. especially height of cars since the '90s is just unreal....

The other day, a new Corolla and an Acura Legend were in adjacent lanes ahead of me.... The Corolla looked like the larger car... Probably not as big as it seems, but it looked a good six inches taller...

michaellno

part of that chase was shown on the local Denver news station yesterday ... did the perp use a golf course as part of the getaway?

andys120

What kind of price on that M5?

Follow the link

kyfdx

Looks nice.. 171K miles, though.... .yeeesh...

michaellno

Recently we've seen some postings (both here and in other discussions) regarding some pretty high mileage cars (150K Jag, the 170K BMW M5, etc.) for what seems to be decent prices.

I know that the perceptions is that some cars will run longer than others -- Toyota vs. Hyundai, though I'm sure someone will chime in with a brother's friend's cousin who had a '91 Excel run for 250K miles -- but at that age, is there a real concern that major parts will start to fail and need serious $$$ to repair?

Forget about ticky-tack stuff .. I'm talking brakes, transmission issues, partial or full engine rebuilds.

For example, if I were to drop $10K on that Bimmer, how much would I expect to spend annually to keep it running, assuming that I used it as my daily driver (10-20K miles per year)?

Or, would someone buy this car and have it as a toy, something to be used sparingly (nice weather, weekends only)?

thegraduate

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing a Bentley Continental GT (the new coupe). It was silver with polished silver aluminum wheels, and parked at the local O'Charley's. Big car, but it didn't have to take up the two spaces that it did. can't blame 'em, they paid 160 grand for a car! :P

Mr_Shiftright

The problem with ultra high mileage luxury cars is that if you have one major component failure, it will equal the price of the entire car or come very close to it. If the trans. goes on the XJ or the cylinder head blows on the M5, you are really screwed.

A car with 175K on it is essentially worthless in terms of the "odds" of running one more day. The engineers built it for that mileage, it did its job, so you are on borrowed time statistically speaking.

if the seller can't show restoration receipts for major components, he can't be asking "restored car" prices. If he's got a receipt for a complete engine/trans rebuild, well then, maybe you can pony up for a nice old car.

Having driven many many old luxury cars many many miles, I've kept excellent records. IF....IF...the car is a "good one" to start with, you can plan on $150 a month to keep them in good running order...this presumes no major catastrophes. My best old car was a Benz diesel at $88 a month and my worst a Saab Turbo convertible at $233 a month.

This doesn't include gas and insurance but does include all other expenses related to repair and maintenance.

stilla

is the M5 a predessesor to the M3 or no? I saw one of these yesterday...very nice and clean, kind of small tho...

jrosasmc

What about old American full-size pickup trucks that seem to keep running forever, even though they may look tired? I'm sure that they are still cheaper to maintain/repair than old European luxury cars, and that they can be rebuilt an infinite number of times.

grbeck

I think its the aging of the population, in particular baby boomers.

When I bought my first Civic sedan (brand new) in 1988, my parents kept telling me that they loved the way it drove, but it was hard to enter and exit because it was too low.

fintail

I found a couple sites that decode the MB "Wxxx" platform designations, might be handy for some

Here's one

And all the Wikpedia MB pages have a timeline at the bottom

andys120

is the M5 a predessesor to the M3 or no? I saw one of these yesterday...very nice and clean, kind of small tho...

Good question Stilla, the M5 preceeded the first M3 by about a decade. It was an E28 5 series fitted with the awesome multivalve M1 engine (300hp IIRC). I've been for a ride in a '78 and all I can say is Wow! :surprise:

The first M3 was based on a four cylinder E30 Three series ca. '87 or so.

explorerx4

nobody comments on my carrera gt sighting, but are gushing about burnt out old bimmers. carrera gt base price = 440,000. :surprise: yeah, im whining.

ghulet

A '78 what, M5? I don't think they were made until the late '80s, or at least I'm almost certain they weren't sold in the U.S. until '88 (the last year of that 5-series body). They had 256hp here, and unfortunately only got ~10mpg in the city.

boomchek

Thanks for those pages. Learning is always good, especially if it has to do with cars. :P

andys120

A '78 what, M5? I don't think they were made until the late '80s, or at least I'm almost certain they weren't sold in the U.S. until '88 (the last year of that 5-series body).

Hey, I was only off by a decade The M5 I rode in was an '88, the only year for the E28 based M5 in the US. That would make the first M3 and M5 more or less contemporaneous.

bhill2

I counted the 'i's twice to be sure. Older model, round tail lights. Maybe late '60s? Looked in good shape.

Mr_Shiftright

that's a car worth having....lots of fun the 2002Tii.....

jrosasmc

I spotted an immaculate, spotless '76 2002 on the main drag in my town (big-bumper style). Why anyone would want to have one of those is beyond me, as I am fully aware of their faults (poor performance, thermal reactor failures, and others).

Mr_Shiftright

The worst year for the 2002, at least in America.

andre1969

Last weekend, Grbeck and I went to the Fall Carlisle swap meet. The pickings were a bit slimmer this time around, but here's a few things that caught my eye

ghulet

Was that the same problem that plagued the 530i of '75-78?

Mr_Shiftright

No, early 530i crack their cylinder heads. Often. This head was redesigned in 1980 but these are not on U.S. cars. Not sure what head an old 530i would have on it at this point. Best to check the numbers and research it before you buy such a car. BMW suffered a class action suit because of the 530i actually. Another thing plaguing the 530i for many years was rust in the rear quarters and around the gas tank. Early models were also real gas hogs (12 mpg) but this gradually improved throughout the model range. I think the last USA 530i was 1978.

Personally you couldn't give me one of those.

andys120

The worst year for the 2002, at least in America.

It was a terrible year for most cars thanks to tightening emissions and safety requirements. 2002s from '68-'73 are generally dandy little cars, some of the
best of the era.

fintail

Cool pics

That blue 56 Caddy on the first page sure is a pretty old behemoth

fintail

And before that, I saw a real oddball today. A Euro-spec W126 SEC. It had euro bumpers, euro lights, and euro plastic hubcaps. Could have been a 420SEC, which was never sold here. I wish I could have seen it closer, I just spotted it in traffic.

Let the crap begin:

Shify-mobile

Another Shifty-mobile

Any fans of the Israeli auto "industry"?

Strange that most survivors are automatics

Yeah, it's a nice car, but LAY OFF THE CRACKPIPE

Can't be many left like this after all the demo derbies

Sad

Even more sad

Here's one you don't see every day, or any day

GM perfected this body right at the end of its life

Special Edition madness

Red. Lots of red.

Extremely early fintail, probably beyond reasonable redemption

Certainly one of the best SLCs left

Early muscle Mercury

Odd big-engined Canadian Mercury wagon - I like the historical/production breakdown

Speaking of Pintos (and their clones

Another oddball wagon

Today is a day for wagons

The car that saved Chrysler...would be intolerably spartan today

Mr_Shiftright

Nice crop of weird stuff you got there.

That Adventurer is incredible for its age and quite unique as a "survivor" but still....he is asking double show car price for it....I think $35,000 should be enough of a bid.

Nice Goggomobile! Too bad it's in Florida.

The '41 Cadillac as a "restoration project" is a bad joke. Rare but so what? That car is long gone.

kyfdx

The SLC? Up to $10K, and "buy it now" is $20K?

Isn't that like a $5K car, at best?

And, the '76 Catalina wagon... It looks almost perfect.... not that it is good for anything, but I'm surprised it hasn't drawn the $1000 starting bid...

Also... today I saw an old Olds Toronado... not sure of the year... the sort of fastback model.. maybe a '69?

fintail

I like those big 70s GM wagons with their versatile tailgate. I haven't seen one on the road in ages.

The SLC might be worth a little more than 5K, but not a lot more. Some MB fanatic might pay 10K for it for his personal museum as it really does appear to be one of the best ones left...but I can't imagine more.

The 41 Caddy looks almost too far gone for parts. I bet 20 years ago it was still a viable project, owned by one of those idiots who is too poor to restore it, but not hard up enough to need to part with it. Those people do a great disservice to the old car hobby.

andys120

..specially the guy who wants $50k or more for the DeSoto, it's not worth half of that.

I'd love to know where all those Goggomobils were back in the 60s, I don't think I ever saw one until you started posting them.

andre1969

we also saw a '59 Eldorado convertible, mostly under a tarp, but looking like it needed a lot of work. It was missing the grille, bumper, headlights, and all the front trim, and God only knows what horrors the tarp was hiding. The sign on it said, as if it were a revelation, "Yes it's for sale!" and had $100,000 on it! :surprise:

gsemike

Definately a good crop but who is preserving these undesirable cars like Aspen wagons, Reliants and Bobcats? They're all impressive but so what? It's a shame that one more desirable car wasn't kept up instead of each of these.

andre1969

but where is the woodgrain trim on that Aspen? :confuse: Kinda odd that it seems pretty well-equipped, with delay wipers and cruise, but no a/c? I also thought an SE model would be a bit ritzier inside. At least, the sedans and coupes are, but maybe it was different on the wagon?

I'd say if it had a 318 and a/c, it would be kinda cool. Even better if it had a 360, which was available but rare in the F-body. But as is, a 110 hp slant six in a car that must weigh around 3600 lb, it's just going to sit around and hurt people's eyes with all that red!

andre1969

but I kinda like that '82 Reliant. Hey, at least it's one of the later '82 models, with the roll-down rear windows! My uncle had an earlier model '82 that just had the GM-style flip-out vents.

One thing that kinda confuses me though...why does this car look like it has a tranny hump? :confuse: I know it's still going to have a bit of a hump down the middle because they routed the exhaust system through there, but up front it looks like it has a hump about the size of what's in my '79 NYer!

It's been so long since I've been in a K-car with a bench seat that I don't really remember what they were like. I had an '88 LeBaron, but it was a coupe with bucket seats and a console/floor shift, so that area was taken up, anyway.

andys120

I knew a guy that had an Aspen wagon with a stick shift, low end model, natch.

Mr_Shiftright

they didn't even use the word Hemi in 1957, and besides those engines are no 426 from the late 60s, not by a long shot.

Whenever you see ridiculous prices on cars, that's because they are not really for sale. The owner is just playing around.

andre1969

might not have used the word "Hemi" back in the 1950's, but let's face it, anybody that had the remotest bit of automotive knowledge back then knew what they were. There was one year that DeSoto tried to make their mechanics wear a beanie that had a spark plug in the center...needless to say it didn't go over too well.

And yeah, they were no 426 Hemi, because they were actually engines that you could DRIVE on a daily basis, and not have to tune up every 15 minutes! They also had about twice the lifespan, and usually put out class-leading horsepower for engines in their size classes.

andre1969

originally an aircraft type engine? Reason I'm asking is because Chrysler DID use the phrase "Aircraft-style" or something similar to that back then. Also, they tended to refer to their engines by name, such as "Firedome", "Firepower", "Red Ram", etc, but I'm sure the term hemi was thrown around. Just not capitalized and trademarked!

jrosasmc

I had a friend who had a '68 Hemi GTX at one time. He said that it was absolutely NOT a daily driver, especially in downtown settings because it did not take well to stop-and-go traffic.

Mr_Shiftright

Oh they weren't all that great, but were a decent engine; however,they were heavy engines and gas hogs, and a spiffed up Chevy 283 fuelie would pretty much dance around it (of course, it was generally in a lighter car, too). It was really the 426 that gave the Hemi its reputation. If there were no 426, the earlier engines would be no more or less noticed today than Ford V8s or Pontiac V8s of the 50s. Put a 50s Hemi block on ebay and you might not even get a bid, but put a 426 on ebay and you'll see some staggering numbers. The public knows the diff I think and pays accordingly.

But yes, you are certainly right, the early hemis were very tractable and drivable compared to their Big Beast Brothers of later years.